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A group of music labels is suing Verizon for $2.6 billion for allegedly failing to stop internet users from pirating digital music.
The group—which includes Sony Music, Warner Music, and Atlantic Records—says it sent Verizon "more than 340,000" notices about music piracy since 2020. But the lawsuit claims Verizon, one of the US’ largest internet service providers, has done little to stop the illegal activities.
This includes allegedly turning a blind eye to one Verizon subscriber who is "single-handedly the subject of 4,450 infringement notices."
"Instead of taking action in response to those infringement notices as the law requires, Verizon ignored Plaintiffs’ notices and buried its head in the sand,” the record labels wrote in the 28-page lawsuit filed in New York on Friday. “In reality, Verizon operated its service as an attractive tool and safe haven for infringement.”
Verizon subscribers have allegedly been downloading bootleg music using the file-sharing protocol BitTorrent. According to the lawsuit, Verizon has been using proprietary technology from a company called OpSec to identify Verizon subscriber IP addresses involved in torrenting pirated music.
“Thousands of Verizon subscribers were the subject of 20 or more [infringement] notices from Plaintiffs, and more than 500 subscribers were the subject of 100 or more notices,” the lawsuit says, later adding: “The level of recidivism across repeat infringers on Verizon’s network during the period of infringement at issue here is staggering.”
(Credit: UMG)The other big claim is that rather than cracking down on its customers, Verizon has been profiting from piracy by charging high fees to infringing subscribers. The lawsuit adds that Verizon offers an “Anti-Piracy Cooperation Program” to help stop such infringement, but it requires companies to pay “burdensome fees” for IP address lookups and “waive their copyright claims, broadly indemnify Verizon, and, tellingly, keep the terms of the program confidential.”
“For copyright owners unwilling to waive their rights and 'pay-to-play,' Verizon directs them to send email notices,” but the company allegedly refrains from acting on such notices, the lawsuit adds.
In response, the record companies are demanding Verizon fork over up to $150,000 for each song that its subscribers have allegedly pirated. The lawsuit includes a list of 17,335 songs from a wide range of artists.
Verizon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. However, the lawsuit could push the company to crack down more harshly on users engaging in torrenting. Subscribers on Verizon might also respond by adopting VPNs, which can mask the true IP address of a user.